Apple continues to ignore India despite the growing smartphone market

Well, Apple’s indifference with India continues as the recently concluded Apple event furthered the notion that India is still on Apple’s radar as a key market for its products.

Despite speculations that Apple might announce a cheaper iPhone variant targeted at emerging markets, nothing of that sort happened. Yes, Apple did announce a cheaper iPhone variant but I had my doubts whether iPhone 5C will be priced right for the Indian market

iPhone 5C is not a cheaper iPhone by any means, especially for the Indian market

Plastic body nothwithstanding, iPhone 5C is definitely cheaper in contrast to the 5S. But then, Apple’s definition of “cheap” is clearly not in line with what Indian markets would consider affordable.

The iPhone 5C prices for the factory unlocked versions is $549 and $649 respectively for the 16 GB and 32 GB versions

One does not have to be math wizard to know that at these prices, iPhone 5C is not any different from any other apple products that have been out of reach for most Indian consumers. For the lazy ones, at current currency rates (1 dollar=65 rupees),

iPhone 5C 16gb version is priced at Rs. 35,685 and iPhone 5C 32 GB version is priced at Rs. 42,185

India not a target country for first rollout

The image above tells Apple’s indifference with the Indian market. While the newly launched iPhones will be available in major Asian markets such as China and Japan, India is conveniently missing despite being one of the largest smartphone market in Asia and growing at a healthy rate